Serps - I wasn't told!!

gothnurse

I have worked for the NHS for 30 years, had a ten year break. Find myself now having to wait an extra 4 1/2 years for state pension due to my age. Got a forecast of state pension to find that I will only get basic money as the NHS opted me out of Serps and didn't advise me of the consequences. Took private pension to cover me when I left the NHS and they didn't advise me of the need to opt back into Serps either. Any one know of a group that is fighting to have this investigated and claimed back like the PPI thing???

noh

Claim what back?
If you do the sums you will find that you are better off having opted out.

Drp8713

Short answer, no.

All public sector defined benefit schemes are contracted out. They all say so in the scheme booklets, and just in case you didnt read it you get a payslip once a month that says NI D instead of the full NI A.

The only reason you wouldnt know is if you didnt read the scheme booklet or look at your payslips, which is your fault and nobody else's.

Your_Hero

gothnurse wrote: »

I have worked for the NHS for 30 years, had a ten year break. Find myself now having to wait an extra 4 1/2 years for state pension due to my age. Got a forecast of state pension to find that I will only get basic money as the NHS opted me out of Serps and didn't advise me of the consequences. Took private pension to cover me when I left the NHS and they didn't advise me of the need to opt back into Serps either.

NHS pension, like majority of DB schemes, are contracted-out schemes. Your pension with NHS would have been far better than the SERPS. No one would have "advised" you of anything. You simply signed up to their pension - no advice was given.

When you left NHS, you must have chosen to continue to opt out and receive the NI rebates into your private pension which, as you said, was taken out by yourself. If you wanted to opt back in you could have and this is your responsibility and no one else's. Contracting out through private pensions (DC) was abolished in 6 April 2012 and you were then automatically contracted back in if you were still employed.

Any one know of a group that is fighting to have this investigated and claimed back like the PPI thing???

When are you going to take responsibility for your own future? All I see is you blaming others for your own problems when you've suddenly realised your pension isn't as much as you'd hoped.

dunstonh

Got a forecast of state pension to find that I will only get basic money as the NHS opted me out of Serps and didn't advise me of the consequences

The scheme was contracted out from the start. As were most defined benefit schemes. The information was in the scheme booklet. You are not given advice by the NHS. You are given the booklet and told to seek advice if you need/want it.

Took private pension to cover me when I left the NHS and they didn't advise me of the need to opt back into Serps either.

When you left the employment of the NHS you automatically get contracted back in. You didnt need to do anything.

Any one know of a group that is fighting to have this investigated and claimed back like the PPI thing???

Why would it need investigating? There is nothing wrong here. You just didnt read the manual and appear to have made a number of wrong assumptions and seem to want to blame others when nothing is actually wrong.

atush

if you re still working, you lready have 2 years contracted in, and will get more. then when the flat rate pension starts, if you have less than the full pension, and your years are over 35, you will keep earning til you get there.

xylophone

http://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/Pensions/Documents/Pensions/GMP_Factsheet_v3.0_06.2013.pdf

http://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/Documents/Pensions/SD_GUIDE_COMPLETE.pdf

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/210299/single-tier-valuation-contracting-out.pdf

With regard to your private pension https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/301563/Pensions_fact_sheet_v8.pdf may be worth a look.

jamesd

gothnurse wrote: »

Any one know of a group that is fighting to have this investigated and claimed back like the PPI thing???

Some fraudsters will probably try cheating people like you with false claims about them being worse off. That's inevitable.

gothnurse wrote: »

I have worked for the NHS for 30 years, had a ten year break. Find myself now having to wait an extra 4 1/2 years for state pension due to my age. Got a forecast of state pension to find that I will only get basic money as the NHS opted me out of Serps and didn't advise me of the consequences.

They probably did but even if they didn't, the NHS pension has to pay at least as much as you would have received from being contracted in, so you will end up better off. All of those in the NHS scheme are contracted out while they are in the scheme, as usual for defined benefit pensions. Once a person leaves they go back to their previous contracted in or out state.

gothnurse wrote: »

Took private pension to cover me when I left the NHS and they didn't advise me of the need to opt back into Serps either.

Once you left the NHS scheme you went back to whatever your previous in or out state was. If you didn't actively contract out then you would have been contracted in those years. If you were contracted in you will probably be worse off than if you contracted out.

One of the changes to the flat rate state pension is that there is a cap on the state pension that can accrue, £144 at the time of original announcement, more like 156 by the time it starts after inflation increases. Each person stops accruing more once they get there. Just before the start of the flat rate system each person gets a foundation amount calculation. That is the higher of their old rules or new rules levels. A person like you but contracted in all the time would end up above the flat rate level and wouldn't get any increases for working more years under the new system. A person who was mostly contracted out would start below and continue to accrue more.

In addition, the contracted out person keeps their contracted out pension. So contracted in gets flat rate state pension maximum, contracted out gets that plus their contracted out pot.

If you will not be working for the years after the flat rate system is introduced you can cheaply get extra years using the class 2 NI contributions for the self-employed.

You can find out for certain whether you were contracted in or out during the private pension years by contacting the HMRC Contracted Out Helpline.

Congratulations. By being contracted out you're one of the winners of the flat rate system.

SomeUser

It is guaranteed that your occupation pension benefits are at least what you would have got if you remained contracted in.

In respect of pre 1997 benefits, you would have Guaranteed Minimum Pension benefits.


In respect of post 1997 benefits, the scheme has to meet something called the Reference Scheme Test or something called the "test scheme standard". These are known as an "underpin". The level of your pension at retirement is "tested" against the contracted out requirements, i.e. checking that it's greater or equal to what you would have gotten if you had remained contracted in. If your pension isn't high enough, the scheme has to uplift your pension to the minimum level.

gothnurse

Thanks for the advice, it was 1971 when I joined the NHS, don't seem to remember getting a booklet when I was 18 to read about what I had signed up for!
I was not automatically opted back into Serps when I left in 1994 and went to the private sector. Without advice how can I take responsibility for this when I have only just found out about this through the media mostly. Any way I have been told by the pension agency that I along with many others will not be getting the 150 pound, or whatever it will be pension, and will only get a percentage as I did not pay Serps. So to late to do much about it now

jamesd

When you were in the private sector pension, which pension scheme was getting the contracted out rebates? You might be able to find the value of them today by checking there. The contracted out helpline can tell you which scheme was getting them.

Since you have a few more years to work you'll end up with something between today's basic state pension and the flat rate level. But will be able to top that up if you want to.